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When we ended our last installment of The Legend of the Pink Flamingo, Dr. Illene Noppe had just presented the very first departmental flamingo to Twila. Twila grew so fond of it that she didn’t want to give it back, so Dr. Noppe had to buy another one to put outside her own office (that’s when they started to multiply!). Eventually, beginning a trend of marking “special events” with flamingos, that one showed up outside Dr. Vespia’s home with a “get well soon” sign after her knee surgery. That thoughtful gift started a game much like “hot potato” because, well, let’s just say that initially not everyone shared Dr. Noppe’s enthusiasm for the plastic creatures. If you received a flamingo, the only way to get rid of it was to think of another faculty member and special event to “honor” with it (leading to the catchy new term “getting flamingoed”). Dr. Vespia passed hers on to Dr. Gurung, and it became the first fully costumed bird. She and Twila decorated it with a grass skirt, lei, sunglasses, and flip-flops to welcome him back from a conference in Hawaii (admittedly stretching the definition of “special event”). How did these birds become objects of love instead of “hot potatoes”? What’s up with the Packer flamingo by Dr. Martin’s office and the one dressed as “Queen Georjeanna”? You’ll have to wait for the next installment of The Legend of the Pink Flamingo.

We know some readers have been on the edge of their seats waiting for the second installment of The Legend of The Pink Flamingo. So…what happened after Dr. Illene Noppe asked her son for a pink flamingo for Mother’s Day? He bought her one! (Please don’t ask why she wanted one in the first place – we think that’s a question only she can answer.) Dr. Noppe then made the mistake of sharing her Mother’s Day dream with Twila, our Academic Department Associate, who responded by saying, “Great – just as long as you don’t bring it to the office!” Well, Dr. Noppe couldn’t just ignore that challenge, could she? Wouldn’t your feathers have been ruffled? The very first flamingo in the wing, therefore, was one that showed up on Twila’s office chair, facing her computer, with a beautiful “HI TWILA” sign hanging around its neck. How did that turn into a whole flock of beautifully decorated flamingos? More on that in our next issue…

First, why is this newsletter called The Pink Flamingo, you might ask? Students who have visited faculty offices in the C Wing already know the answer. For those of you who haven’t seen the pink plastic “lawn ornaments” outside the offices of Drs. Gurung, Martin, L. Noppe, Von Dras, and Wilson-Doenges, come up and take a look. How do these beautifully dressed/decorated creatures appear? Some suspect Twila, our Academic Department Associate. Some think it’s Dr. Gurung, who, as always, in turn blames Dr. Martin. Some even suspect it’s a poltergeist (maybe, more accurately, a “poultry”-geist), but no one knows for sure. Actually, it all started when Dr. Illene Noppe asked her son for a pink flamingo for Mother’s Day…. Want to know more? You’ll have to wait for the next issue of The Pink Flamingo.